Develop Power Through Yoga

Photo by Felipe Bastias on Unsplash

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" Calmness is the cradle of power."
- Josiah Gilbert Holland

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This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series.  
​Want to start at the beginning?
Yoga Sutra 3.38
ते समाधावुपसर्गा व्युत्थाने सिद्धयः
te samādhāvupasargā vyutthāne siddhayaḥ
These accomplishments are obstacles to samadhi but powers in worldly life.

Sutra 3.38 is so simple and easily missed among the great siddhis or powers listed in Pada Three of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, but is the most important Sutra in this set.  As I referenced at the beginning of the year, Patanjali cautions us here that these siddhis can derail our spiritual progress.
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When we get caught up in these “superphysical senses” (Satchidananda, 237) we are thrust back into the material world.  We may become so enamored with our newfound abilities that we lose sight of the spiritual progress that exists beyond their attainment. 

​Patanjali catalogues these potential accomplishments through samyama so that yoga practitioners can spot them and overcome them if and when they arise.

In light of this, although they are numerous, I will keep my explanation of the siddhis brief so as not to give them undue importance in the full structure of The Yoga Sutras.

​1. Knowledge of the Past and Future (Yoga Sutras 3.14-3.16)
By practicing samyama on the three transformations of time (subsided past, manifested present and unmanifested future), a practitioner can gain knowledge of the past and future.

2. Understanding the Language of All Beings (Yoga Sutra 3.17)
Through samyama on the sounds of any creature, one can understand their communication.

​3. Knowledge of Previous Births (Yoga Sutra 3.18)
By performing samyama on one's previous lives, a practitioner can gain insight into the experiences and identities of their past incarnations.

4. Understanding of Others’ Minds (Yoga Sutra 3.19-3.20)
Samyama on the mind of another allows a yogi to comprehend the mindsets of others and brings “knowledge of their point of view” (Stiles, 36).  But as we are not mind-readers, “as specific thoughts are not the object of samyama” (Stiles, 36), we cannot know “exactly what brought them to that state.” (Shoshoni, 36)

5. Imperceptibility (Yoga Sutras 3.21-3.22)
By practicing samyama on one's own form through the senses, a person can become invisible to others and escape their perception through these various senses.

6. Knowledge of Time of Death (Yoga Sutra 3.23)
Through samyama on one’s karma (actions), one gains knowledge of “their final fruits” (Iyengar, 207) or one’s time of death.

7. Moral and Emotional Strength (Yoga Sutra 3.24)
By practicing samyama on qualities such as “friendliness, compassion, and benevolence,” (Iyengar, 208) a practitioner cultivates these virtues in themselves and “the power to transmit them is obtained.” (Satchidananda, 230)

8. Superhuman Strength (Yoga Sutra 3.25)
Focusing on the strength and power of an elephant or other strong animals can bestow similar strength upon the practitioner.

9. Knowledge of the Hidden (Yoga Sutra 3.26)
“Concealed things, near or far, are revealed to a yogi” (Iyengar, 209) by projecting the “light of one’s higher consciousness” (Shoshoni, 37) upon them.

10. Knowledge of the Solar System, Celestial Bodies and their Movements (Yoga Sutras 3.27-3.29)
Samyama on the sun bestows knowledge of the solar system, on the moon brings understanding of the stars’ arrangement, while focusing on the pole star can impart insight as to their movements and therefore, destiny.

11. Knowledge of the Body's Anatomy and Physiology (Yoga Sutra 3.30)
By practicing samyama on the navel chakra, a yogi can understand the body's constitution, inner workings and even control its functions.

12. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst (Yoga Sutra 3.31)
Intense focus on the throat chakra leads to the ability to endure long periods without food or drink.

13. Motionlessness (Yoga Sutra 3.32)
Focus on the subtle nerve channel at the base of the throat (kurma nadi) brings motionlessness to the body and mind.

14. Bestowal of Blessings (Yoga Sutras 3.33-3.34)
Focus on the crown chakra brings “a spiritual vision bestowing the blessings” (Stiles, 39) of perfected beings.  Or by samyama on intuition, the yogi “becomes the knower of all knowledge.” (Iyengar, 216)

15. Understanding of Consciousness (Yoga Sutra 3.35)
Focus on the heart leads to knowledge of “the contents and tendencies of consciousness.” (Iyengar, 216)

16. Control over the Senses (Yoga Sutras 3.36-3.38)
By samyama on the distinction between the intellect (buddhi) and the unchanging Self (Purusha), one comes to know the Purusha, which leads to supersensory perception of and control over the senses of hearing (clairaudience), touch (divine touch), sight (clairvoyance), taste (divine taste) and smell (divine smell) (Satchidananda, 236) “independent of the sense organs [ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose].” (Iyengar, 218)

17. Entry into another Body (Yoga Sutra 3.39)
“By understanding and loosening the bondage that keeps the consciousness in the body” (Shoshoni, 40) the practitioner can leave one’s own body and enter another’s at will.

18. Control over the Elements (Yoga Sutras 3.40-3.46)
By samyama on various bodily energies and elements, a practitioner gains control over the five elements (earth, water, fire, air, and ether), obtaining abilities such as levitation and lightness of being.  “During this great out-of-body experience, the mind’s vacillations seem unimaginable, as they are perceived to be external to oneself, and, from this experience, the covering that veils spiritual illumination” (Stiles, 42) disperses.  
As one masters the elements, the eight major siddhis - anima (to become very small), mahima (to become very big), laghima (to become very light), garima (to become very heavy), prapti (to reach anywhere), prakamya (to achieve all one’s desires), isatva (to create anything), and vasitva (to command everything) (Satchidananda, 242) develop and one is “made impervious to the elements.” (Shoshoni, 42)

19. Perfection of the Body (Yoga Sutra 3.47)
Through this control over the elements through the eight major siddhis, the practitioner develops control over and perfection of the body, which includes beauty, gracefulness, strength, robustness, endurability and radiance.

20. Mastery over the Senses (Yoga Sutra 3.48)
A bit different from “control over the senses” (#16 above), this siddhi develops when the practitioner practices samyama upon the function and purposes of contact between the Self and nature through the senses.   These functions and purposes of the senses being “directing perception, [understanding] their essential nature, exploring all pervasiveness and…” perhaps most importantly, “...remaining indifferent.” (Stiles, 44)

Although these siddhis are quite esoteric for a reason - which is to prevent the uninitiated from developing power out of control - I believe when we do finally settle down to practice samyama on them one by one, they become quite practical and realistic.  For me (who has a very rational minded consciousness), this is an important exercise.

Taking just one as an example, clairaudience seems like a fantasy at first glance.  But upon greater thought, it doesn’t seem like a stretch to say that deep focus on one’s sense of hearing would lead one to hearing things we usually tune out, such as background noises, sounds coming from far away, or even the sounds that go on within us without our usual notice.  And that ability to hear these superauditory phenomena would be greatly distracting during meditation.

Whether you seek to develop these siddhis or not, know their development does not matter in the slightest.  The point Patanjali is making in pada three is that what we think, we become.  To not get stuck in the worldly, but to move beyond these accomplishments so that we can attain the true purpose of samyama, which is recognition of our inherent spiritual perfection.

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“What kind of capabilities has yoga revealed in your life?” (Bhakt, 167)